edESTESdesign :: architecture + urban design :: graphics + web design

Covered in mirrored glass that’s transparent when viewed from within, the facade of this Mexican forest retreat reflects the color, light, and movements of its natural surroundings.

Located on a lush woodland hillside of Monterrey, Mexico, this reflective retreat—also known as Los Terrenos, meaning The Terrains—has been designed by Mexico City–based architectTatiana Bilbao, using rammed earth, terracotta clay bricks, and mirrored glass.

Construction has begun on Japan’s tallest building, a 330-meter-tall skyscraper in Tokyo designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects.

The building is one of three skyscrapers being designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects for developer Mori as part of the Toranomon-Azabudai district in central Tokyo, where Heatherwick Studio is designing the public realm.

Planned to be approximately 330 meters high, the main tower would be around 30 meters taller than the Abeno Harukas skyscraper in Osaka – currently Japan’s tallest building.

The developments that have the greatest impact on a neighborhood are often those that bring a new grocery store, offering a new option for residents to make their regular food shopping trips.

Building grocery stores as part of low-rise shopping centers with surface parking lots appears to be a thing of the past in the D.C. Metro area, as developers are now building grocery stores into mixed-use developments with hundreds of apartments that bring a consistent stream of demand.

The D.C. region is lined with new grocery-anchored developments that will bring retailers such as Wegmans, Whole Foods, Aldi and Trader Joe’s to their respective neighborhoods. From Rockville to Shaw to Southeast D.C. to Alexandria, Bisnow found 11 grocery-anchored developments underway in the D.C. area.

A growing neighborhood in Northwest D.C. that has welcomed a wave of bars and restaurants over the last year can serve as a model for other parts of the city looking to build more development and attract new retailers.

The roughly mile-long stretch of Georgia Avenue from Lamont Street to Upshur Street that includes part of the Petworth and Park View neighborhoods has at least 13 multifamily projects in various stages of development and has welcomed at least 17 new bars and restaurants since the start of 2018, plus a gym, a hair salon and a clothing store.

The neighborhood will receive a spotlight Oct. 5 when D.C. hosts its first-ever open streets event on a 3-mile stretch of Georgia Avenue, closing the street to cars and featuring various activities for pedestrians.

People who visit the neighborhood for the event will see the new roster of restaurants and a series of construction projects underway, but with a different feel than the other fast-growing parts of the city.

Many of D.C.’s booming neighborhoods, such as NoMa and Capitol Riverfront, feature 12-story buildings that take up entire blocks with hundreds of units, but that is not the case in Petworth and Park View. The zoning classification along this stretch of Georgia Avenue only allows for buildings up to 65 feet tall.

Outstanding Award-winning design that blends perfectly with the mountainous desert environment. So simple but so elegant.

Winner of the 2019 Popular Choice A+Award in the Religious Buildings category, Bosjes Chapel is a modern architectural landmark for South Africa. Masterminded by the talented, London-based firm Steyn Studio, the chapel is defined by its dramatic silhouette, poetically intertwined with the spectacular mountainous backdrop of Breederiver Valley in the Witzenberg Municipality. As a standout winner from this year’s competition, Bosjes Chapel is the recipient of an additional, extra special honor this year: It is one of five buildings to take home the title of 2019 A+Awards Project of the Year.

Steyn Studio’s design possesses all the ingredients found within the world’s most beloved architecture. On the outside, its symmetry and curvaceous nature provide instant appeal in the vein of Fariborz Sahba (architect of the Lotus Temple in New Delhi, India) or Felix Candela, the Spanish and Mexican architect famed for his elegant thin-shell concrete structures. However, it is on the inside that the qualities of this building really shine through: considered detailing allows contrasting materials to meet harmoniously at beautiful junctions.

While its architecture is extraordinary, Bosjes Chapel’s most magical elements are those that you can’t see — it is the atmosphere, full of emotion and serenity, that sets this building apart. Architizer spoke with Firm Principal Coetzee Steyn about the project, the challenge involved in bringing it to fruition, and the impact of the Special Honoree award for his studio.

The force may be with Disney, but Universal’s empire is putting up a good fight in the theme park wars.

Comcast Corp.-owned Universal Parks & Resorts on Thursday fired the latest salvo in a decades-long battle to give entertainment giant Disney a run for its money, announcing a major expansion in Orlando that includes hotels, restaurants, shops and a new theme park called Universal’s Epic Universe.

“Our new park represents the single largest investment Comcast NBCUniversal has made in its theme park business and in Florida overall,” Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts said in a statement. “It reflects the tremendous excitement we have for the future of our theme park business and for our entire company’s future in Florida.”

The news from Universal comes just weeks before larger rival Disney opens a giant new Star Wars-themed land at its Florida property.

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Welcome to the Blog of Ed Estes Design. Architectural Designer Ed Estes will provide you with updates on Ed Estes Design's latest insight on news, events, and happenings in the world of architecture, planning, interiors, graphics and web design. Ed may even provide his view on entertainment, politics and sports updates from around the world every now and then!